Trump turned on the television to see a jarring juxtaposition — massive
demonstrations around the globe protesting his day-old presidency and
footage of the sparser crowd at his inauguration, with large patches of
white empty space on the Mall.
As his press secretary, Sean Spicer, was still unpacking boxes in his
spacious new West Wing office, Trump grew increasingly and visibly enraged.
Pundits were dissing his turnout. The National Park Service had
retweeted a photo unfavorably comparing the size of his inauguration
crowd with the one that attended Barack Obama’s swearing-in ceremony in
2009. A journalist had misreported that Trump had removed the bust of
Martin Luther King Jr. from the Oval Office. And celebrities at the
protests were denouncing the new commander in chief — Madonna even
referenced “blowing up the White House.”
Trump’s advisers suggested that he could push back in a simple tweet.
Thomas J. Barrack Jr., a Trump confidant and the chairman of the
Presidential Inaugural Committee, offered to deliver a statement
addressing the crowd size.
White House press secretary's inauguration claims, annotated Play Video2:01
During a briefing, White House press secretary Sean Spicer accused
members of the press on Saturday of “deliberately false” inaugural
coverage. (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)
But Trump was adamant, aides said. Over the objections of his aides and
advisers — who urged him to focus on policy and the broader goals of his
presidency — the new president issued a decree: He wanted a fiery public
response, and he wanted it to come from his press secretary.
Spicer’s resulting statement — delivered in an extended shout and
brimming with falsehoods — underscores the extent to which the
turbulence and competing factions that were a hallmark of Trump’s
campaign have been transported to the White House.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-first-days-inside-trumps-white-house-fury-tumult-and-a-reboot/2017/01/23/7ceef1b0-e191-11e6-ba11-63c4b4fb5a63_story.html